simon cowell dj show
Simon Cowell is planning a new live TV talent show to “find the world’s greatest DJ.” Unless he is also planning to revive Pan’s People, this will be the dullest television show since they stopped showing the Test Card. Think about it. DJs traditionally stand behind a turntable and play records that other people have made ( although the modern DJ is just as likely to trigger them from his Mac, with an automatic mixing programme). I don’t know how much nail-biting drama there is to be squeezed from shots of a man in headphones teeing up his next track, then maybe having a crafty fag and a beer while a 12-minute remix of Azealia Banks's latest groove plays out. As for the judges, what are they supposed to say? “Nice one, mate. Have you got any ABBA?”
For sure, the DJ’s role has shifted over the years from background manipulators to main attraction, and many of the most successful modern DJ acts have developed a visual counterpoint to correspond with this shift in focus. But even with such hi-tech superstar DJs and DJ teams as Deadmau5, Daft Punk and Magnetic Man, this still usually boils down to costumes, laser lights and go-go girls. DeadMau5 wears a big mouse head. Good luck with making a prime time TV show out of that.
When Cowell says "DJs are the new rock stars, it feels like the right time to make this show,” he’s not really talking about DJs, he’s talking about producers like David Guetta, Eric Prydz and Labrinth (who Cowell has already signed to his own Syco label), whose popularity is based on hit pop-dance records with guest vocals from stars like Rihanna and Katy B and raps by Snoop Dogg and Tinie Tempah. I suspect that Cowell is waking up to a sea change in pop that is in danger of leaving his flagging empire behind. Viewers have been cottoning onto the manipulation of established TV cabaret competition formats, and there has been a corresponding fall in viewing figures, while at the same time pop trends are migrating away from Cowell’s brand of manufactured cheese. Dance music is, once again, the engine of the pop charts, particularly through the belated surge of Euro-techno styles in America. But it is a very gimmicky, condensed version of what a DJ does in a club, with the beats and sounds married to pop vocals and raps, leading to a chart crammed with flashy collaborations. Perhaps Cowell thinks he can make something out of that. If his show ever appears (and I have my doubts), I predict lots of pop hits, guest spots and licentious dancing, like a souped-up Top of the Pops. What I don’t expect it to do is identify an interesting DJ, let alone the world’s greatest.